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Why doesn't Antetype do HTML / CSS & JS Generation

Modified on: Thu, 18 Sep, 2014 at 11:20 AM

Users often points out that it would be great if Antetype could output HTML, CSS and JS so that websites could be easily generated from a design. This is a a feature that we think would make Antetype into a less useful product rather than a more useful though as it would mean compromising on some aspects of Antetype that we find important to maintain.

One problem is that everyone's definition of what is good HTML, CSS and JS is different and it is next to impossible to generate code that is acceptable to all.

Another issue the generated output will only be as good as the inputs and the structures built within antetype so in order to ensure that the best code was generated we would have to constrain designers in how they build their Antetype files so that "fast responsive websites, standalone, straight out of Antetype" were possible with minimal coding.

Our primary audience is UX designers and in the early stages of creating a new design it is best to "play" with concepts and ideas free of the constraints of the specific implementation. As a design becomes more mature and the ideas settle down then implementation specifics must be taken into account and eventually the design is ready to be implemented.

It is our aim to help designers and developers as much as possible in the transition from design to implementation, whether this be via the creation of style guides, design assets (PNGs etc) or CSS snippets to help developers understand how to best implement the design.

Another aspect to consider is that Antetype is used not only for building web apps, but mobile apps for Android and iOS, desktop apps for Windows, Linux and OS X and embedded interfaces for all sorts of systems. A tool that constrained designers to the rules of the web would be frustrating for the non-web solutions.

We have good plans about how to improve the interface between design and implementation but code generation of entire sites is not part of those plans - sorry.

For some other opinions about design tools that generate code have a look at: